


Marshmallow Hunt

by EntreNous



Series: kidverse fics [4]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Stuffed Toys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 20:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/828673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EntreNous/pseuds/EntreNous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Where was the last spot you saw Marshmallow?" Fred tried.</p><p>"In the drawers," Xander said in a small voice. "I hid him there, on account of how Spike was making fun of me for sleeping with a stuffed bear, even though I told him that Marshmallow is a pure white polar bear, and a hunter, and helps me not have bad dreams."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marshmallow Hunt

Since it was Fred's turn to supervise Spike and Xander during their afternoon quiet time (or what Cordy called, "You'd _better_ not make a sound time"), she had kept an ear cocked for any sound. After the usual duration of time passed, she began waiting for the boys to try to sneak out of the room and wheedle their way into watching cartoons (even though Wesley had said they should only watch an hour of television a day), or to attempt to persuade her that they were supposed to have a slice of cake each before dinner time.

But it was late in the afternoon before she looked up from her notebook of equations and thought she better go investigate the too-quiet state of the boys' room.

Fred peeked around the corner of the room, expecting perhaps to see Xander and Spike immersed in an intent game with the miniature trucks Gunn had bought them recently. Or maybe they would actually be asleep, napping on their beds, or just wherever they had fallen in the course of chasing each other around.

Instead, she saw Xander alone, kneeling in front of the bureau. His face tear-stained as he worked his way through the drawers, tossing aside small shirts and balled up socks and underwear with increasingly frantic movements.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

He jumped at the sound of her voice. When he looked at her, his face crumpled. "Marshmallow!" he wailed.

"Oh!" Fred wrung her hands and tried to think fast to stop Xander from weeping. There was no time to ask why on earth he thought he would find marshmallows in his pajama drawer. "Oh, well, if you wanted, I think Wes got you some marshmallows for your hot chocolate, the last time he did the grocery shopping? Why don't we go down to the kitchen and see?" Angel couldn't be too angry with Fred if Xander had a sugary snack before a meal, not if it meant averting a terrible crying fit.

"No, no, not that kind of marshmallow," Xander sobbed. " _Marshmallow_!"

"I'm sorry," Fred began. "But maybe . . . oh, gosh . . . " She glanced around with urgency as Xander's sobs increased in volume. "I don't know what you mean, but we could play or something, to make you feel better; would that help?"

"All right, what's all this racket about," Cordy said as she rounded the corner. When she saw Xander, his face getting redder as he cried, she shot Fred a fierce look.

Fred shook her head. "No, I just came in to check on the boys, because it was too quiet --"

"So you wanted to see what it was like if it wasn't quiet?" Cordy asked, eyebrows arched.

""I didn't do anything!" Fred protested. "I found Xander, and he was all upset --"

" -- because of _MARSHMALLOW_!" Xander bellowed through his tears.

Instantly Cordy's expression became concerned. "What happened to Marshmallow?"

Fred sagged against the wall in relief. "You know what he's talking about?"

"Of course I do," Cordy said briskly. "Xander, did you leave him downstairs in the office? Or what about in the lobby from last night, when Angel he was telling you that story about ye olden vampiric days?"

"Marshmallow is a . . . pet?" Fred guessed.

"Marshmallow is my bear," Xander said.

Fred's eyes went wide. "Angel lets you have bears?"

"He's a stuffed bear, Fred; get with the program," Cordy interrupted.

Meanwhile, Xander had let Cordy draw closer. When she sat down cross-legged on the floor, he slipped into her lap, snuffling, and then leaned against her with an anxious expression.

"He wasn't downstairs, and I didn't even bring him down there anyway, but I checked all the same," Xander said. "Then I looked all over -- in the basement, up in the rooms Angel says we're not supposed to go to because of the -- the _stuck your all_ damage, under Wes's desk, on top of Gunn's weapons chest, and he's just not anywhere, and he's probably scared without me, and I want him back!"

"We'll find Marshmallow, kiddo," Cordy assured him. "I promise."

Xander buried his face against her neck.

"It seems kind of funny that a stuffed bear could disappear all by himself," Fred ventured.

Instantly, two dark-haired heads turned towards her.

"Do you think he got stoled by a demon?" Xander asked. His bottom lip trembled.

"Can we all let me handle this?" Cordy demanded.

"I don't mean any harm, just -- where was the last spot you saw Marshmallow?" Fred tried.

"In the drawers," Xander said in a small voice. "I hid him there, on account of how Spike was making fun of me for sleeping with a stuffed bear, even though I told him that Marshmallow is a pure white polar bear, and a hunter, and helps me not have bad dreams."

Fred and Cordy exchanged a look. "And where is Spike now?" Fred asked lightly.

"I don't know, he just --" A light dawned in Xander's dark eyes. "You think Spike took Marshmallow, because of him thinking I'm a baby to sleep with a bear, to be mean to me?" He sniffled.

"Oh, no, I don't think he would do that," Fred said hastily. "I thought, though, maybe he kind of . . . moved Marshmallow, and could help us find him."

Xander got to his sneaker-clad feet, a determined look on his small face. "Okay. Let's go find Spike."

*~*

The three of them made their way through the first floor of the hotel, but even after checking behind the drapes and in the supply closets, they hadn't discovered Spike or Marshmallow

"Upstairs," Xander decided, and Fred and Cordy trailed after him as he led the way.

Finally, after going through a number of the suites, they reached Angel's set of rooms.

"Ssshhhh," Xander instructed before tiptoeing in.

They crept up, at first not seeing anything aside from Angel's velvet shirts hung up in the closet or his _Complete Works of Satre_ lining the bookshelves.

"We really need to get Angel some cotton shirts," Cordy murmured. "Can you imagine the dry cleaning bills?"

"I guess he's not in here," Xander said in a sorrowful tone as he emerged from the fourth of Angel's clothes closets.

"Wait, y'all, I think I see something," Fred whispered. She beckoned, and the other two followed her to the next room, and Angel's bed.

There in the darkness, making a lump under a pile of fuzzy blankets, was Spike. His hair was sticking out in all directions, and he was fast asleep. And in his arms was a stuffed white polar bear with glossy black eyes.

Xander's small hand flew to his mouth. Cordy snickered.

"I guess all the things he said, about how you're a baby because you sleep with Marshmallow, kind of don't count anymore," Fred commented in a low voice. "Looks like he decided to take your bear so he could snuggle up to him on his own."

Xander giggled. "He could've just asked. I would've let him borrow Marshmallow. If I wasn't using him."

Spike sighed in his sleep and turned over, clutching Marshmallow more tightly.

"Awww, that's so sweet," Cordy breathed. "We should really leave them alone."

"Okay," Xander said with a nod.

"Guys, don't you think this is sort of . . ." Fred paused, but went on when Cordy waved at her to continue. "A Kodak moment?"

When the flash went off, Spike woke up with a roar, already in game face even as he rubbed at his sleepy eyes with his small fists.

But the witnesses to his stuffed polar bear snuggling were already off like a shot, clutching Polaroids of a slumbering blond boy holding a white teddy bear and having the sweetest of dreams.


End file.
